PROVIDENCE – For the seventh consecutive year, the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition will host the Rhode Island Elevator Pitch Contest, during which participants will vie for $1,000 in cash prizes.

Both aspiring and established entrepreneurs will present their business ideas to a panel of judges in just 90 seconds – short enough to fit in an elevator ride.

“The Elevator Pitch Contest provides a great opportunity to practice a pitch and get immediate feedback from people who know what it takes to build a business,” competition Co-chair Larry Davidson, principal with the Providence-based accounting firm of Kahn Litwin Renza & Co. Ltd., said in prepared remarks.

At the event, which is open to the public, entrepreneurs will present a 90-second pitch to judges and receive immediate feedback about the “clarity and persuasiveness” of the presentation. Cash prizes totaling $1,000 will be awarded to the best presenters at the end of the event.

“Knowing how to make your case to investors is a critical skill for successful entrepreneurs. There’s no substitute for a live audience and, in this case, a friendly one that’s rooting for everyone,” Margaret “Peggy” Farrell, co-chair and partner at the firm of Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP, said in a statement.

The judges will be Jim Grade, president of InsureMyTrip.com; Gil Lantini, publisher of the Rhode Island Small Business Journal; Pamela O’Hara, president of Batch Blue; and Christine Smith, of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.

Anyone interested in participating may register at http://www.ri-bizplan.com">www.ri-bizplan.com. People who want to attend but not participate, may pre-register on the same site. The event will take place at the Harborside Academic Center on the Johnson & Wales University Harborside Campus in Providence from 5:30–7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

The deadline to register to participate in the pitches is 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30.

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